Neoteric thinking in videogames

The new language of videogames

This will be achieved by promoting content for the advancement of the medium, through neoteric thinking and innovation. My aim is to present experiences that we have not played before; alternatives to the oversaturated genres we have wallowed in for too long, games that challenge perceptions, which can enlighten the ignorant as well as the conversant.

Some of these experiences will look atypical; not fitting politely into the mould of what we call a traditional videogame. They may not be cohesive under our current mode of evaluation either, which rates experiences by their control mechanics rather than emotional content. This interactive medium is important socially, culturally and academically, it should not be viewed as a mere disposable toy or as a scapegoat for the ignorant.

I respect that a lot of people have no desire to look beneath the surface; to many, games are just a convenient escape and nothing more.

Please try to understand though: this is a medium that other modes cannot replicate; one that offers an abundance of opportunities. Videogames are conduits of expression and instruments of ideas; they stand as benefactors of creative thoughts. This creativity needs to be supported, unhindered and not supressed or pigeonholed.

The book, the song and the film are widely respected channels of ideas but they are generally passive experiences. As a user your interaction does not alter the course of the content, you watch, listen or read with the option of stopping or continuing. With videogames we can have direct influence inside of those ideas, creating, touching and manipulating them in a way that generates visceral expressive content. There may be a linear path towards a final goal, but that path can be deviated from and played with.

The criteria for selecting the games I present revolves around one element; they must offer something original, either through interaction or by innovating; aesthetically, phonically or through subject matter.

Progress does not come from repeating the same things over and over again; it comes from experimentation and risk taking with a high degree of failure. The games I present will not be criticised for their attempts to innovate, especially because they might not play or look as good as other games. They will be commended for their struggles to forge new paths, because this is how the medium moves forward, through trial and error, it grows through innovators and not by plagiarism or imitation.

In addition to the content and ideas I present I will introduce a new term instead of videogame; one that encompasses more than the current vocabulary we use.

This term is: Interactive visions (or visions for short)

My reasoning behind this phrase will be examined more in depth in another post, but I feel that it simply conveys the essence of the medium without placing restrictions on what or who it is for.

I hope to challenge our perceptions of what a videogame is, what they can do and what they can be. It is important to open up debates as to what this medium is capable of, and what they could be like in the future.